Gatson Loop Road in West Mobile County to Close for Drain Pipe Replacement
Mobile County Public Works planned a week-long closure of Gatson Loop Road to replace an aging cross drain pipe beneath the roadway, with detours posted.
Drivers in west Mobile County were given advance notice of a week-long road closure set to begin the following Monday, as Mobile County Public Works crews prepared to replace a cross drain pipe along Gatson Loop Road.
The work is centered near 6135 Gatson Loop Road, where county crews planned to dig out and replace an aging drainage pipe that runs beneath the roadway. Because the pipe sits directly under the travel lanes, public works officials said the road would need to close completely for about a week rather than being handled with partial lane closures. Detour routes were being mapped out and signs posted in the surrounding area to help residents and commuters find alternate paths around the closure while the work was underway.
The Gatson Loop Road closure came during an especially active stretch for road work across the Mobile Bay area. Elsewhere in Mobile County, crews were wrapping up lane closures on Airport Boulevard near Alverson Road after weeks of drainage and roadway improvements, and the Three Notch Road roundabout project at Dawes Lane remained closed with a completion target around the third week of November. Satchel Paige Drive was also shut down between Government Street and Bolling Brothers Boulevard as part of a widening project tied to construction at the McGowin Park shopping center.
What a cross drain does
A cross drain is a pipe or culvert laid beneath a road to carry stormwater from one side to the other. When one deteriorates, replacing it typically means excavating through the road above it, which is why the county planned a full closure instead of lane closures.
